A Sensible Transportation Program

June 21, 1991

There always seems to be a need for new highways, as critically in the Chicago area as anywhere. But if there is to be any serious effort to manage the traffic strangling America`s metropolitan centers, it will have to be first through improving the roads people now use and encouraging more mass transportation.

The strength of the $123 billion, five-year transportation bill passed by the Senate Wednesday-the biggest and one of the most sweeping in history-is that it puts the emphasis where it belongs. It differs markedly from the Bush administration program by authorizing more money overall and more for mass transit specifically, focusing on the upgrading of existing roads and bridges instead of new construction and giving the states more flexibility in how they spend the money.

That last provision is the most significant, unlike previous programs in which the federal government generally dictated on what forms of

transportation the money could be spent. The states will be allotted some $37 billion to use as they wish, on roads and bridges or mass transit. This is in addition to $21 billion dedicated directly to mass transit. This could particularly benefit the cash-strapped Chicago Transit Authority, as well as commuter rail and bus services.

Chicago and Illinois both would gain under the plan. The city, for example, would be assured financing for two critical projects: an extension of the Dan Ryan elevated system, with a huge new commuter parking lot; and the building of a trolley system to move people more efficiently around the expanding downtown.

Illinois would collect an additional $250 million under a formula to distribute an $8.2 billion surplus in the Highway Trust Fund. It would go to those states that have paid more than they have received from federal gasoline taxes and those that have shown the most commitment to financing their own projects.

The state also could benefit from a new provision permitting federal funds to be mixed with tollway revenue to construct new roads. This could give a huge boost to three vitally needed projects: the extension of the North-South Tollway north into Lake County and south into Will County, and creation of a Fox Valley Expressway. The only way these roads may be built may be as tollways, but first the General Assembly must be persuaded to authorize them.

The Bush administration, which earlier had threatened to veto the Senate plan, is now being more conciliatory. In part, this may be because the Senate included the Bush-backed plan for a new national highway system, linking the interstate system with a network of federal roads feeding into it. This is a sound idea because it funnels federal money directly into the upgrading of these important commuter roads-another advantage for the Chicago region.

The House is considering an even more ambitious version of the Senate plan, and the two are destined to be reconciled in a conference committee. In either case, the direction is on course.